What is Stop loss?

A stop-loss is an order that sells a position automatically when the price falls to a level you set: a decision made in advance so that it does not have to be made under pressure. It caps the loss on a trade at roughly the distance between entry and the stop, and it is the most basic risk control on any venue that supports it.

Roughly is the important word. A stop is usually a trigger for a market order, and in a fast market the fill can land well below the stop price; in a thin market it can land much lower. Stop-limit orders avoid that by setting a floor, at the cost of possibly not filling at all. Neither is wrong; each fails in a different way, and knowing which you hold matters on the day it triggers.

Stops interact with leverage. On a leveraged position the venue has its own stop, the liquidation price, and it charges a penalty to reach it. A stop placed above the liquidation price closes the trade on your terms; one placed below it is decoration. Volatile markets also hunt round-number stops, which is why many traders place them at odd levels.

A stop is not a hedge for a portfolio. It protects one position on one venue; it does nothing for the same asset held elsewhere, and clusters of stops across accounts can all fire in the same minute. Position sizing, diversification and an honest view of total exposure do the work that a stop only pretends to do at the portfolio level.

A tracker cannot place stops, and TrueHold does not try; it is read-only by design. What it shows is the thing stops are set against: where each leveraged position sits relative to liquidation, and how much of the portfolio a single move would touch. Set the stops on the venue; read the exposure in one place.